Former head of MPAA, Jack Valenti, dies at 85

The man who was hired by the Motion Picture Association of America in 1966 to “prepare the public for the news of a new code revision” to the conservative, Catholic Production Code that regulated screen content for more than 30 years, far past its expiration date, and who successfully helped develop the ratings system, G-M-R-X, on which today’s ratings system is still based, passed away today at the age of 85.

Resigning in 2004, Valenti served as head of the MPAA for an unprecedented 40 years. It truly is amazing that anyone could last four decades as head of the association that serves the film industry — the industry that puts out what is perhaps the most controversial mass-mediated product ever to exist. His predecessors, William Hays, Eric Johnston, and Ralph Hetzel, managed 23 years, 18 years, and 3 years respectively, and while these numbers pale in comparison to the 40 years Valenti spent lobbying for the movie industry, one must also take into consideration the fact that Hays, for example, saw the industry through the inception of regional censorship boards in the 1920s, the creation of the Production Code in 1930, the enforcement of the Code in 1934, the Great Depression, World War II, and, through it all, endured the constant pressures of special interest groups threatening the industry with federal regulation of its product.

Still, the 40 years that Jack Valenti spent in the MPAA were no skip in the park either. With his assistance, the film industry embraced the ratings system, marking the most significant change in the regulation of film since the adoption of the Production Code in 1930. By creating the ratings system, Valenti found a way for the industry to maintain what had been most important to it from the start: voluntary self-regulation, rather than regulation at the federal level that was out of its control. In addition, as with his predecessors, Valenti helped to protect the creative expression of filmmakers, even in the face of constant accusations that motion pictures are to blame for all things negative in the world, from the popularity of cigarettes to gun violence and school shootings.

Coincidentally, Valenti passed away on the same day that I took my final exam in a course I took this semester on the censorship of Hollywood films. In fact, just a few hours ago, I completed the essay portion of the exam with a discussion of what led to the demise of the Production Code, as well as how and why the ratings system was embraced as its replacement. Of course, more than once, my pencil scrawled the name “Jack Valenti.”

Here’s to you, Jack.